AITEX

AITEX is a research center focused on textiles and cosmetics with a wide experience in the industrial sectors The Textile & Cosmetic Industry Research Association – AITEX, is a private research association which performs characterisation trials and certification of textile materials and articles for a wide range of sectors including interior design, fashion, cosmetics, work wear, healthcare, sports and leisure, land and sea transport, aerospace and sports surfaces. AITEX is Spain’s leading research and innovation centre and provider of advanced technical services to the textile and cosmetics industry. The center has a network of ten international offices providing cover for its associates and clients in more than fifty countries, and this has led to the center becoming one of Europe’s leading research centres. In 2025, AITEX celebrates its 40th anniversary having consolidated its position as a European and world reference in research, innovation, advanced technological services and certifications for the textile industry and with the marked objective of becoming a reference center in the cosmetics sector in Spain in the coming years. Today, AITEX offers a wide range of services including advanced certifications, technical analysis, specialized training and the promotion of R&D projects. Its cross-cutting approach ranges from sustainability and circular economy to the integration of new technologies in production processes. This constant commitment to quality and innovation has made the center a strategic partner for companies seeking to adapt and lead in an increasingly demanding global market. The AITEX’s core objective is to create and transfer knowledge of textiles to the private sector, making the textile industry more competitive and opening up doors to new opportunities with a high added-value factor. The Center promotes modernisation and the introduction of emerging technologies through its on-going R+D activities and other projects which contribute to the evolution of the textile industry, and issues the most appropriate product certifications to allow an article to compete in the international marketplace and facilitate its introduction into high-end niche markets. The move into the cosmetics sector was not by chance, but the result of a well-defined strategy to diversify its activities and leverage its accumulated expertise in research and applied R&D. The creation of the cosmetics technical unit in 2018 marked a turning point, consolidating its entry into this sector. This decision was also driven by the exponential growth of the cosmetics industry nationally and, above all, in the Valencian Community. Increased concern for sustainability, transparency in ingredients and product safety generated a demand for specialized technical services and high quality certifications. AITEX research work has culminated in the signing of several bilateral agreements with centres from around the world to exchange experiences, participate in international R+D projects and generate know-how to provide the private sector with a value-added factor for their products. The center’s laboratory services offers its members the most up-to-date equipment and infrastructure for the characterisation of products, QA and certification to the most demanding international standards and regulations and AITEX is one of Europe’s best equipped centres, with the widest scope of technical accreditation facilities with ENAC – ILAC approval (the national and European accreditation bodies). The center is registered as number 36 in the Registry of Technology and Innovation Centres and as 115 in the Registry of Research Results Transfer (OTRI). It is a member of FEDIT, the Spanish Federation of Research and Technology Centres, REDIT, the Valencian Technology Centre Network and is on several national and international technical committees, platforms and networks, such as TEXTRANET, Textile ETP, Biobased-Consortium, Water Europe, a.SPIRE, acte, interop-vlab interval and GEDRT.